A Black Florida deputy said a white inmate threatened him holding a pen moments before the inmate threw a walker at him.
“‘I want to go to my new world and I’ll take whoever I can with me. I’ll
take you with me,'” former Detention Deputy Jarred Tazewell said the inmate told him.
Still, the encounter April 23 ended with Tazewell forced to resign regarding how he handled the situation, according to an incident report and investigation documents the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office emailed Atlanta Black Star Thursday.
Tazewell was shown on surveillance video retaliating against the inmate with a punch to the face at the Sheriff Perry Hall Inmate Detention Facility in the suburban Daytona Beach town of Bunnell, Florida .
“He resigned in lieu of being terminated, which was the likely outcome of the investigation,” Sheriff Rick Staly said in a news release announcing Tazewell’s resignation Tuesday.
Prosecutors didn’t file charges against the deputy or inmate identified as 54-year-old Mark Duncanson, but sheriff’s officials determined Tazewell violated agency policies in the incident.
At the time, Tazewell was “retrieving” the inmate from a confinement cell, “when the inmate, who had a walker, threw the walker at Tazewell striking him,” sheriff’s officials said in the news release.
“In response, Tazewell struck the inmate in the face with a closed fist causing the inmate to fall backwards,” officials added in the release.
Although the inmate did not appear to be holding a pen in the portion of surveillance video Atlanta Black Star received, a detective said in the incident report that Duncanson was seen on footage with a jail pen about two minutes before his encounter with Tazewell.
The pen was puncturing a piece of paper and styrofoam container when the inmate grabbed the paper and dislodged it from the container, the detective said.
Tazewell also said in the report Duncanson was holding the pen in his right hand.
An investigator with the sheriff’s office recommended Duncanson be charged with battery on a law enforcement officer, but prosecutors later rejected the recommendation, citing the fact that Duncanson had been ruled incompetent in a prior case, according to an internal investigation report.
Still, investigators determined the inmate’s behavior “did not warrant the level and type of force” the deputy used, the sheriff said in the news release.
The Flagler County Sheriff’s Office will be sending the case to the Florida Criminal Justice Standards and Training Commission, which has the authority to revoke Tazewell’s certification.
“Excessive use of force will not be tolerated at the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office,” the sheriff’s office said in the release.
“Often, inmates will ‘bait’ Detention Deputies and I expect Deputies to keep their cool and not react inappropriately, as was done in this case,” Staly said.
He reported that use of defensive tactics by detention deputies has declined 38.5 percent since he’s been sheriff.
“Tazewell’s action is not a reflection of the many men and women that serve professionally at the jail keeping us safe from some of the worst people in society,” Staly said.
He alleged in media reports that there were red flags in the deputy’s background when his predecessor in the sheriff’s office hired Tazewell, but he has refused to say what those red flags were.
Steven Glessing, who identified himself as a retired law enforcement officer who lives in Flagler County, commented under the sheriff’s news release on Facebook that the deputy’s response was an “approximate and reasonable use of force” from his perspective.
“Sheriff Staley’s demanding that this deputy resigns from his department does not sit well with me and I do not agree with his decision,” Glessing said. “Law enforcement officers are expected to perform a very dangerous job and lately I noticed they are not backed up by their supervisors.”
